Best Running Routes in Minneapolis 2026

Minneapolis is one of America's great running cities, built around lakes, the Mississippi and an interconnected parkway system. Here are the best running routes in Minneapolis for 2026.

The Chain of Lakes

The Chain of Lakes is the signature Minneapolis run, fully paved with separate pedestrian and cyclist paths and continuous open-water views. Individual loops run about 3.1 miles around Bde Maka Ska, 2.75 miles around Lake Harriet, 2.6 miles around Lake of the Isles and 1.68 miles around Cedar Lake, linking end to end for about 12.5 miles, passing the Lake Harriet Bandshell, the Lyndale Park Rose Garden and the historic mansions lining Lake of the Isles.

The Mississippi River and Stone Arch Bridge

A roughly 5 mile paved loop runs from downtown across the Stone Arch Bridge, past St. Anthony Falls, Mill Ruins Park and the Mill City Museum, looping Nicollet Island, extendable to 8 to 11 miles via West and East River Parkways. The Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge, built in 1883 for James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway, now pedestrian and cyclist-only, the only arched stone bridge on the entire Mississippi.

Minnehaha Creek and Falls

The Minnehaha Creek Trail runs a mostly flat 5.75 miles one way from Lake Harriet to Minnehaha Falls Regional Park, where the creek drops over the 53-foot Minnehaha Falls into the Mississippi, with some signalized street crossings, forming a sizable stretch of the Twin Cities Marathon route.

The Grand Rounds and Theodore Wirth Park

The Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway is a roughly 50-mile interconnected system of parkways with separate paved paths, effectively a greatest-hits loop stitching together the Chain of Lakes, the Mississippi riverfront and Minnehaha Falls, one of only a handful of urban routes designated a National Scenic Byway. Theodore Wirth Regional Park, the largest in the system, offers everything from flat paved paths to steeper wooded trails for a change of pace.

Running the Twin Cities Marathon Route

The Twin Cities Marathon is widely dubbed the most beautiful urban marathon in America, running past three Minneapolis lakes and along the Mississippi before finishing on St. Paul's Summit Avenue amid peak fall colours.

Practical Guide to Running in Minneapolis

The Chain of Lakes and the Stone Arch Bridge loop are the most reliable, most scenic choices for a run; Theodore Wirth Park is the pick for anyone wanting genuine trail terrain.

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